Israel says it is considering 'military aid to Ukraine'

Kharkiv, October 2022: According to Ukrainian authorities, this debris is the remains of an Iranian Shahed-136 drone fired by the Russian army.

REUTERS - STRINGER

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2 mins

This is the first time that the Jewish state has officially taken such a marked position in the war between kyiv and Moscow.

Until then, Israel was content to provide humanitarian and diplomatic support to Ukraine.

Asked by the American channel CNN about the delivery of the famous Israeli anti-aircraft defense system, Iron Dome, Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, who is close to Vladimir Putin, affirms that he is “examining the question”.

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with our correspondent in Jerusalem,

Sami Boukhelifa

In war, as in war... everyone defends their own interests.

And the interest of the Jewish state, today, is a clear position in the Western camp, alongside the Ukrainians.

Israel will not supply arms to Ukraine

 ," said 

Benny Gantz, the

Hebrew State's defense minister in Naftali Bennett's government, last year.

Initially reluctant to completely turn its back on Moscow, Israel has gradually evolved on this issue.

What changed ?

Mainly two things:

Iran, Israel's pet peeve, supplied

kamikaze drones to Russia

.

And this military support is not a one-way street, says the American administration.

Moscow also supplies the Islamic Republic with weapons.

Unacceptable, says the Jewish state, which fears that Tehran will acquire atomic weapons.

Israel also advocates Western military action against Iran.

In the meantime, the Jewish state is waging an indirect war against the Iranian militias, positioned in Syria.

In this neighboring country, Russia, an ally of Damascus, controlled the airspace.

Israel therefore needed the green light from Moscow to intervene on the spot.

To read also

: Israeli military operations interrupted for a month in Syria, under the effect of the war in Ukraine

This is where the second change comes in: as the war in Ukraine escalated, Moscow disengaged from Syria, and transferred its S300 anti-aircraft batteries to its own territory.

Israel therefore now enjoys greater freedom of action in Syria.

Moscow is no longer needed.

Also to listen

: In Ukraine, "Israel is caught in a strategic double bind between Americans and Russians"

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